Shooters, shooters and more shooters. Ok Ill admit I didn't watch the game last night but I've watched a lot of Rockets game when I could and almost all of the Rockets games form 94 - 01. And probalby close to 30 games last year. Some thoughts, people are still saying that Yao needs the "lob" pass when fronted by smaller quicker guards, but realize that Yao isn't explosive enough to reach that. I remember seveal ocassions last year where a lob was thrown and the defender out jumped Yao for it. A lot of fans here says it's a bad pass but I tend to disagree. There are 2 reasons why the Rox can not get the lob to work. 1) The key to getting a lob pass is all about how fast you can get to certain height of the basket ball, while Yao is taller than other players, other players are more explosive and can get to that point faster than Yao can. There's a reason why Yao doesn't do well in jumpballs. While a "perfect" pass can get Yao the ball, the chance of getting that pass exactly where only Yao can get it is probably much lower than taking a shot and ofcourse a miss fg is always better than a to. 2) A lot of times, where Yao fronted, the defender on the weak side always seem to to creep over, making the pass even more difficult, that's because they know they wont fear the out side shooters on our team. So here's how we beat the front. 1) Get some outside shooters, that way the man on the weakside can't cheat as much. 2) When Yao's fronted, swing the ball around to try to get a better look in getting Yao the ball, when we have some shooters that we can swing the ball to, it will open up the floor much more, making an entry pass to Yao much easier. 3) When Yao sees himself being fronted, postion himself for an offensive rebound and the outside shooters should take a shot. When you're fronted, the defender pretty much gives you the positioning for an rebound. That's one of the reasons why people dont' front, what's the point of stopping a shot when you give the opposing big man the inside position for an offensive rebound?
